


Call Me Pretty?

by Tigger_14



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, Fluff, Insecure Lance, M/M, One Shot, Somewhere in Season 3, keith is a good bf, keith is helpful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-12
Updated: 2018-03-12
Packaged: 2019-03-30 03:29:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13941639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tigger_14/pseuds/Tigger_14
Summary: Guys shouldn't be pretty. Lance knows this. So then, why does he like it?





	Call Me Pretty?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for checking this out. I got this idea from Lance's Paladin video when he freaked out about Allura thinking that he's pretty. The motivation to write this came from Broadside's Summer Stained. Its a great song by a great band.

“You are the prettiest boy I’ve ever met.”

They’re cuddling in Keith’s room one afternoon when he says it. Lance can’t believe it. Keith thinks I’m pretty? He can’t think that. How can he think that? Lance freezes and he can feel tears pooling in his eyes and he knows he has to get out of there before Keith sees them.

“Uh, I-I just remembered! I have to go help Hunk! Bye Keith!” The brown haired boy gets up hastily and races out of the room faster than he thought possible, leaving Keith to wonder what just happened.

Lance stumbles down the hall to his room and rushes into the bathroom. He looks at his face in the mirror and belatedly realizes that there are tears running down his cheeks. He hastily swipes at his face to get rid of them, but they don’t stop and a son erupts from his throat. He slaps at his face.

“Pull yourself together, McLain. You’re not pretty, handsome, yes. Not pretty. You can’t be,” he places his hands on the sink and leans into the mirror to inspect his face. His brow furrows angrily. “Not pretty at all. Why would Keith say that? Ugh,” he shakes his head, pulling away and going to sit on his bed, deciding what to do next. _Maybe if I train more, Keith won’t think that. Maybe if I stop doing face masks…_

But he doesn’t want to stop doing the masks. They remind him of his sister Veronica, when they would sit around and talk about boys and everything was simple. He misses that more than he cares to admit. Lance had known from a young age that he likes both boys and girls. His sister was the first person he told when he was 13, and she convinced him to tell their brothers and they all convinced him to tell their parents two years later before he left for the Garrison. It was great, they were all accepting.

He remembers going to the Garrison, getting roomed with Hunk and meeting Pidge and some other guys. He kept up with his face masks and Hunk never said anything about it. He didn’t really talk about it much except to say that he would do them sometimes with his sister. It wasn’t until he was sitting with some guys from class at lunch, Hunk and Pidge off working on a project when it happened.

_“That girl over there is so pretty,” one of the guys said,_ Lance can’t remember his name now. _He smirked though and said, “Yeah, but she ain’t as pretty as me,” he batted his eyelashes and laughed, but he stopped when he realized none of the other guys had joined in._

_“Lance, you seriously think you’re pretty?” A boy who Lance thinks is named Brian said._

_“Well, yeah! My sister used to tell me all the time when we did face masks together,” he said with a smile, remembering the times with her._

_“Dude, that’s so lame. Guys can’t be pretty. That’s a girl thing,” maybe Brian had stated._

_Lance was taken aback, “Isn’t it an everyone thing?” He has asked with furrowed brows._

_“Uh, No dude. I mean, I know you like dudes and all and you do face masks with your sister, but you still like girls right?” The first boy asked._

_“Well, yeah, I like both…,” Lance mumbled._

_“Then you should know that being pretty is only for girls. It’s weird for a dude to be pretty. Wait, I just had a thought, please don’t tell me you still do those face masks here, without your sister?!” Maybe Brian looked at Lance with a slight sneer on his face._

_Lance felt his face heat up because yes, he still did them without his sister. “W-what!? No! No! Of course I don’t! That’s lame!”_

_“Exactly! Glad you understand,” the first boy started. “We can’t be friends with a guy who thinks he’s pretty. That would be so lame. You gotta be a manly man, Lance. No time for being dainty and shit. Leave that to the girls,” he smirked over at Maybe Brian._

_“Right….,” Lance chuckled weakly and poked at his food for the rest of lunch._

That was the day that Lance decided he couldn’t be pretty and every time he would call Veronica and she would comment on it, he would tell her that he wasn’t pretty. He was a man, Veronica, men aren’t pretty. She would laugh and say, _“You’re very handsome then, Lance.”_

He got up off the bed, looked at his beauty supplies nervously, and kept walking out of the room. He’d deal with it later. He grabbed his bayard on his way out. As he made his way to training deck he ran into Hunk.

“Hey Lance! How’s it going!”

“Hey buddy! Just heading to the training deck!” Lance explained with a smile to his best friend.

“Ohhh. Training with Keith? Is this a date? That’s a weird date, but it is Keith so I guess it works,” Hunk shrugged.

“Uh..no, no, not with Keith. Just me! Want some individual practice. Gotta home my sharp shooting skills!” Lance nervously threw finger guns at Hunk and tried not to glanced away anxiously.

Fortunately for Lance, Hunk didn’t seem to notice his nervous behavior. “Cool, cool. Don’t train too hard! Have fun!” Hunk smiled over at Lance as they passed.

Lance let out a sigh of relief, “Thanks! Later buddy!” He continues his way down the hall and entered the training deck. _I’m gonna get stronger. I’m not gonna be pretty._ With that thought he started the training sequence.

~

An hour later and throughly sweating through his t-shirt, Lance finished the training sequence. He looked up when he heard the door open. _Please don’t let it be Keith,_ he silently prayed. His prayers were answered as Pidge walked through the door.

“Hey Lance. Hunk told me you were here.”

Lance smiled wide, “Hey Pidgeon!” He walked over to the wall and grabbed a towel to wipe his face. Pidge scrunched up her face, but didn’t comment at the nickname.

“Hunk wanted me to tell you that dinner is almost ready so you should shower.”

“Cool! Thanks.”

She turned to walk away, but then turned back around. With an eyebrow raised, she asks, “Is there a reason why Keith didn’t want to come tell you that?”

Lance immediately feels his face heat up as his thoughts go back to the last encounter with his boyfriend. He scratched the back of his head and says, “Nope!” His voice cracks so he clears his throat and tried again, “Nope. There’s no reason. We’re fine.”

Pidge does not look convinced in the slightest, “You sure?”

“Yeah, totally,” he’s lying through his teeth and he knows it’s his fault that they’re not okay, he knows it’s his stupid insecurities, but he won’t say that to Pidge. He’s also extremely great full that he has a boyfriend who knows when to give him space.

Pidge narrows her eyes as Lance turns around to grab his jacket and water. She lets it’s go though as she figure they’ll work it out soon. “Okay. See you at dinner,” she walks out of the room, leaving the struggling boy alone.

Lance can’t figure out what his problem is. That’s a lie too. He knows the problem. He knows it as he walks back to his room. He knows it as he showers for dinner. He knows it as he pulls his clothes on. He even knows as he sits through dinner, next to Keith, and does everything he can to avoid the black paladin’s eye.

The truth is: he wants to be considered pretty. He knows Keith meant it as a compliment and damn if he didn’t love hearing him say that. Here’s this guy, this amazing, smart, strong, fierce guy that Lance has liked and admired since the first time he saw him and this guy thinks he’s pretty! Him! Lance! Lance is flattered, he is so fucking flattered, but he’s ashamed too. _Guys can’t be pretty, so then why do I want to be? Why did it feel good when Veronica and Keith said I was?_

Lance sits through dinner with these thoughts in the back of his mind as he laughs when he’s supposed to, cracks jokes, and acts like nothing his wrong. He can tell though, that the raven haired boy sitting next to him can see right through him so he’s not surprised when he’s pulled aside and asked to meet Keith in his room in an hour. He nods and says sure.

An hour later, he’s outside Keith’s room with his hand raised. He takes a deep breath and knocks. The door opens with a confused Keith standing on the other side.

“Since when do you knock?” He asks with a furrowed brow and if Lance looks close enough he can see the hurt in Keith’s eyes. _Shit. I keep fucking up today._

“I dunno. Just felt like I should,” the brunet says as he crosses his arm protectively.

Keith huffs and turns, “Well, you don’t need too. You know you’re always welcome in my room. No matter how much I may complain.”

“I know,” Lance says and he steps into Keith’s room and stands in the middle.

Keith looks up at him from his perch on the bed and lifts an eyebrow. He reaches out for Lance. Lance hesitates a moment, but knows he can’t resist so he steps in between Keith’s knees, he keeps his arms folded though as Keith wraps his around Lance’s waist.

The black haired boy looks up at his boyfriend with a worried look. Lance hates that he put that look in Keith’s face. Keith should be smiling. “What happened this afternoon?” Leave it to Keith’s bluntness to never take a day off.

Lance shrugs, “Nothing happened,” he’s not looking at Keith though.

“Yes, something happened, tell me,” Keith pauses and looks at his hand playing with the hem of Lance’s shirt, “was it something I did?”

Lance’s eyes widen and he looks down at Keith, but now Keith is the one avoiding eye contact, “Keith! No! It wasn’t you!” Lance finally wraps his arms around Keith’s neck and hugs him close. They stay like that for a few seconds, arms wrapped around each other, Keith’s head on Lance’s stomach and Lance’s face in black hair.

Keith finally pulls away and brings Lance with him. They end up with Keith against the wall and Lance next to him with his legs thrown over Keith’s lap. Keith’s arms around Lance’s shoulders, pulling him close, and Lance’s head on Keith’s shoulder.

“Lance, what happened?” Keith asks again, softly.

Lance takes a second to speak, but when he does his eyes are closed and his fists are clenched in his lap. “You called me pretty.”

Keith was not expecting this, “Yes. Because you are. I think you are.”

Lance shakes his head against Keith’s shoulder, “You don’t get it, Keith. Guys aren’t supposed to be pretty. Pretty is for girls.”

Keith raises an eyebrow, “Says who?” Lance throws his hands up a bit in exasperation, careful not to hit Keith, “A lot of people! The guys at school. It’s not okay.”

“Hmmm,” Keith hums, “Did you like it?”

Lance loos up at him, then looks back down, “Yes…,” he whispers.

“Then it’s fine,” Keith shrugs, “If you like hearing and I like saying it, then it shouldn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I think you’re pretty and gorgeous and beautiful and handsome,” Keith sticks his face in Lance’s as he tries to hide his blush in Keith’s shoulder, “I bet everyone on this ship thinks you’re the prettiest boy here.”

“Keeeeeith,” the red paladin stretches the one syllable into three, but he’s smiling.

Keith is smiling too. “Lance, you’re the prettiest boy in the universe. I mean it. It’s a good thing. If anyone tells you different, I’ll beat them up.”

Lance huffs a laugh, “Keeeeeith. You can’t just beat everybody up.”

Keith smiles, “If they mess with my boyfriend, I can. Watch me.”

Lance rolls his eyes, “Alright, Samurai,” he’s smiling though, and that’s what matters. Maybe being pretty isn’t so bad. It got him a pretty amazing boyfriend, great friends, and nice skin. What could be better than that?

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! Come talk to me about the space gays and all things Voltron on tumblr @bluespacelions. 
> 
> Leave some kudos or a comment if ya wants.


End file.
